Despite decades of effort by federal science funders to increase the numbers of women holding advanced degrees and faculty jobs in science and engineering, they are persistently underrepresented in academic STEM disciplines, especially in positions of seniority, leadership, and prestige. Women filled 47% of all US jobs in 2015, but held only 24% of STEM jobs. Barriers to women are built into academic workplaces: biased selection and promotion systems, inadequate structures to support those with family and personal responsibilities, old-boy networks that can exclude even very successful women from advancing into top leadership roles. But this situation can―and must―change.
Ann Austin’s keynote lecture “Advancing Gender Equity in Academe: Challenges, Strategies, and Institutional Change” provides an evidence-based, action-oriented response to the persistent, everyday inequity of academic workplaces.
Ann Austin is currently the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education and a Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University, where she was twice selected to hold the Mildred B. Erickson Distinguished Chair in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education.
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